Mansoor Sadiq

The authorities have released 2,000 out of 7,000 shipping consignments of pulses and other daily use items stranded at Karachi Port for the last three months to avert a shortage of the commodities in the upcoming Ramadan, WealthPK reports. However, the prices of the daily use items are unlikely to decrease in the country even after the clearance of the consignments as importers have paid demurrage charges of $100 for every container per day during the last three months.

Wholesale Grocers Association Chairman Abdul Rauf Ibrahim told the media that approximately 7,000 shipping containers of pulses had been stranded at the port, out of which 2,000 were released while the remaining 5,000 were waiting to get released. He feared that prices of basic commodities even after the clearance of the consignments would be enhanced in the country as traders paid additional demurrage charges of $100 for every container per day during the last three months. He said that the port authorities and federal government should devise a mechanism for clearance of the consignments on a priority basis as foreign shipping companies announced demurrage charges worth $700 million.

The prices of ghee and edible oil during the month of January 2023 increased almost by Rs61 to Rs105 per kilogram while rates of rice, pulses and grains raised by Rs25 to Rs75 per kilogram in the country as the consignments remained standard at the port. Pakistan usually fulfils its requirements for pulses from imports. The stranding of consignments at the port led to an increase in the prices of pulses, rice, and various cereals in the country during the last three months.

Thousands of shipping containers laden with pulses and cereals were stuck at the port when the government introduced restrictions on imports owing to a shortage of dollars in the country. The traders and importers of grains feared scarcity of pulses and other cereals during the month of Ramadan in the country.

“The decision to release the consignments is being lauded as it will help to settle problems regarding the demand and supply system in the country,” said Abdul Rauf Ibrahim. Commercial banks are not issuing letters of credit to importers owing to a shortage of dollars in the country. It has also led to an increase in the prices of ghee and edible oil.

Ahsan Bakhtawri, the President of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ICCI), told WealthPK that the freefall of Pakistan’s rupee against the dollar could only be controlled by seeking imports substitution and bringing the undocumented sector into the tax net.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk

Meanwhile, escalating petroleum prices have also started impacting the lives of people in the country as the rates of all types of paper have increased by more than 200%, leading to a huge increase in the prices of textbooks and stationery.In the wholesale market of Raja Bazar, Rawalpindi, shopkeepers told WealthPK that the price of all types of textbooks increased from Rs500 to Rs1,700 while the rate of notebooks and registers also witnessed a hike by 100%.